One Life To Live
by 10WeepingAngel
Summary: What happened to 10's clone and Rose after he left them on that beach. The one life they had to share.


**A/N:**** New fanfic! Tenth-Doctor-metacrisis-clone/ Rose. R&R and enjoy!**

**Rated/ Warnings:**** T for swearing. Possible violence? I'll add warnings if needed.**

**One Life to Live**

Chapter 1: Journey's Beginning

Rose watched in shock as the TARDIS disappeared. The Doctor was going back to his own universe, to his own life. She had tried _so hard_ to find him and he was leaving again. The dimension cannon was not a safe way to travel. It was not an easy way to travel. Every jump across dimensions risked tearing her molecules to bits. Worse, every jump risked tearing the _universe_ to bits. She wasn't sure if the Doctor knew that. _Any_ of that.

All she was willing to risk for him, the whole damn universe just to get back to him, and he was leaving. _"Does it need saying?"_

"_Yes, Doctor,"_ Rose thought bitterly. _"It needs saying."_

She glanced over at the . . . clone. The replacement. Another Doctor to replace the one she'd lost, given like a gift. Rose wasn't sure she could bear that. It had been all right at first. Better than nothing, right? But, watching the TARDIS disappear . . . Rose wasn't so sure. She wanted her Doctor back. _Her_ Doctor, not the copy with his face.

So he could grow old with her, what did that matter? She wanted forever. A lifetime of traveling the stars. A dozen lifetimes. Instead she got one. One life to live with the Sort-of-Doctor, instead of forever with the real Doctor. How had she ever thought that this was a good idea?

The Doctor copy smiled at her. He seemed unaware of her dilemma. "So, Rose Tyler," he said with a smile, "Now you've got a universe to show me. Where to?"

Rose looked at him questioningly. That sounded like the Doctor. Honestly, everything he said sounded like the Doctor. She supposed that was the point of being an exact copy, sounding exactly the same.

She took a breath. "Home, I guess," she told him evenly. She looked at Jackie. "Mum, can you call Dad? Get him to send a car or we'll be stuck on this godforsaken beach for days."

"Already done," Jackie said cheerfully. "Shouldn't be too long a wait. He reckoned we'd get back here so he sent someone over. Only has to come from town."

"Right then," Rose muttered. She looked at the Doctor-clone again. "Sorry, but what do I call you now?" she asked abruptly.

He blinked in surprise. "I'm still the Doctor," he said quietly.

"I can't _call_ you that," Rose snapped. "_He's _the Doctor I can't have two. I need some way to differentiate."

He looked at her steadily for a moment, and then looked down. He took a deep breath and then looked up at her with a bright smile. "Hullo!" he said cheerfully. "John Smith, at your service."

"Right," She nodded. "That's going t' be weird, calling you John Smith." She forced a smile. "Suppose I'll get used to it though."

"Rose . . ." he trailed off. "I thought you were ok with this," he said quietly. "With me, and him, and everything. You seemed all right about it before."

Rose scowled at him. "I thought I was!" she retorted. "But, with him leaving . . . I just . . . I don't know. I tried so hard to find him again and when I finally do, he leaves. He just flies off and leaves me with the _clone._"

He winced. "All right, I suppose that's fair enough," he said quietly. "Look, Rose. I know I'm not him. And I know I'll never be him. But he would never settle down. He never could. He'll just keep running forever, because that's what he does, but me? I've got a bit of human in me. Enough, I think, to live a long and happy life with someone I love. _One_ long and happy life."

He sighed. "I've still got two hearts, Rose, but they're both yours. And my one life, that's all yours too. I'm not him. But I'm something, and I'd say I'm not too bad."

Rose gazed at him in astonishment. She couldn't help but be moved by that speech, but she struggled to retain control over the situation. "How do you know that you're 'not too bad'?" she asked, half-joking. "You've only existed for about three hours, and the biggest thing you've done is commit genocide. You could be a right bloody prat for all you know."

He laughed. "True," he said, grinning. "I could be a right bloody prat. The genocide could be seen as an indicator of that, but hey, it was just the daleks. Does that really count?"

Rose shook her head, unable to hold back a smile. "It still counts," she told him. "And I think you are turning out to be a bit of a prat already."

"Oh, but you're not sure!" He responded triumphantly. He gazed at her steadily. "We can find out together, if you'd like," he offered softly. "And if it turns out that I'm too much of a prat for you, well . . ." he took a breath. "you can leave. Anytime, like I've always promised. Like_ he's _always promised."

Rose looked at him for a moment. John Smith. The Doctor-clone. The Doctor. He was the closest she'd ever come to the man she would have loved forever.

Rose nodded gently. "I'll stay with you," she said.


End file.
